Truth is not the halfway point between two untruths. - Ludwig von Mises
My first term is over. During the break, in between terms, I will be visting my friends and family in Minnesota. The house I will be staying in only has a dial up connection that usually only gets 36k, at maximum, with Win98SE so I doubt I will be posting much from there. I may put up a couple quick links here and there but other than that don’t expect anything in depth from me until around Nov. 28th (or so).
Oh, and enjoy your Turkey Day.
Posted in Uncategoriezed.
Classic Ted Stevens.
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Posted in Economics, Markets, & Trade.
…are praising their Messiah, Glenn Greenwald is asking the important questions.
Thank you Glenn. At least someone on the left will be holding Obama’s feet to the fire. Unfortunately, that didn’t really help much while our country has been forced to endure the Bush administration. Congress was too weak kneed, the media is embedded within the entirety of Washington, and the people are just too complacent.
It will certainly be an interesting four, possibly eight, years… not that it would have been any different with a Republican at the helm.
Posted in Impeachment & Presidency.
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LadyBug flight in UltraSlo motion - Watch more Free Videos
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The openly libertarian and critical of government owner of the Dallas Mavericks, not to mention #133 on Forbes most wealthy list, has been charged with insider trading by the SEC.
From the Wall Street Journal:
The Securities and Exchange Commission filed insider trading charges against Mark Cuban, the outspoken owner of the Dallas Mavericks, for allegedly dumping shares in Mamma.com upon learning it was raising money in a private offering (full text of complaint).
The SEC alleges in a civil action that Mr. Cuban sold his entire 6% ownership stake on June 28, 2004, after learning that Mamma.com was raising money through a private investment in a public entity, or PIPE. The next day, on June 29, the company announced the PIPE financing and shares of the company dropped by more than 10%. By selling his stake, the SEC alleges, Mr. Cuban avoided more than $750,000 in losses.
In a PIPE transaction new shares are issued at a discount to the current trading price. An announcement of a PIPE transaction is often followed by a drop in the stock price as shareholders anticipate their stake will be diluted.
It’s interesting to note that just back in mid October Mr. Cuban announced his involvement with BailoutSleuth, which is a new blog that sets out to “keep an eye on our taxpayer dollars and call Bullshit when necessary”. The project has been keeping up on where the bailout money is going (at least the money that’s been transparent) and has been critical every step of the way.
However, I’m convinced Mr. Cuban’s open criticisms of government have got nothing to do with these charges that are based on a trade that took place four years ago. Why, that would be preposterous!
UPDATE:
Mark’s response from his blog:
I wish I could say more, but I will have to leave it to this, and let the judicial process do its job.
November 17, 2008
RE: SEC Civil Action in the United States Districtfor the Northern District of Texas, Dallas Division
Mark Cuban today responded to a civil complaint filed by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission in the United States District for the Northern District of Texas, Dallas Division. In its complaint, the Commission charges that Mr. Cuban engaged in violations of the federal securities laws in connection with transactions in the securities of Mamma.com Inc.
This matter, which has been pending before the Commission for nearly two years, has no merit and is a product of gross abuse of prosecutorial discretion. Mr. Cuban intends to contest the allegations and to demonstrate that the Commission’s claims are infected by the misconduct of the staff of its Enforcement Division.
Mr. Cuban stated, “I am disappointed that the Commission chose to bring this case based upon its Enforcement staff’s win-at-any-cost ambitions. The staff’s process was result-oriented, facts be damned. The government’s claims are false and they will be proven to be so.”
UPDATE II:
What did he mean, exactly? A person close to Mr. Cuban told DealBook that an S.E.C. employee had sent Mr. Cuban e-mails several times over the last year or so, accusing him of being unpatriotic. The bone of contention was Mr. Cuban’s involvement with “Loose Change,” a documentary that accuses the Bush administration of engineering the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks as a pretext for the Iraq war.
[...]
From: Norris, Jeffrey B.
Sent: Saturday, May 05, 2007 2:27 PM
To: Mark Cuban
Cc: Cox, ChristopherSubject: RE: “Lose Change”
I AM SHARING THIS WITH CHAIRMAN COX. NEITHER HE NOR THE COMMISSION ENDORSE MY OPINIONS, BUT IN LIGHT OF YOUR THREAT, I THOUGHT SHOULD SEND THIS TO HIM.
Mark:
If this upsets you, I wonder how George Bush feels. I assume that Mr. Cox would view your involvement with “Loose Change” much as I do. After all, he served his country as a Republican Congressman from Orange County for nearly 20 years and was appointed by President Bush. If you feel like sharing my thoughts with Chairman Cox, be my guest.
Previously, I thought you were merely foolish and naïve. Now, however, I see that you are also a hypocrite. I guess your belief in free speech has severe limitations. If someone else is the victim of an absurd conspiracy theory, you defend your right to participate in smearing the good name of of a patriot like President Bush. But, when you are the subject of a parody of the attack you have endorsed, you suddenly issue threats.
I think I will e-mail this to Chairman Cox myself. I think he will enjoy it. I’m sure he is also a Laker fan.
Since Chairman Cox may not know the background, I will explain. Mark Cuban is the owner of the Dallas Mavericks and has participated in distributing the vicious and absurd documentary, “Loose Change,” which posits that President Bush planned the demolition of the World Trade Center as a pretext for going to war against Iraq. We have had some past exchanges about my opinion the Mr. Cuban’s support for this project is irresponsible and immoral. Below, I parodied his position that every opinion, no matter how absurd and vicious, deserves to be broadly disseminated.
UPDATE III:
From William Grigg’s blog: “Free Mark Cuban!“. Great read.
Posted in Economics, Markets, & Trade.
Zimbabwe has inflation, bad inflation. Over two hundred million percent inflation, and by some figures I’ve read over 500 million percent. But, Zimbabwe’s central banker says it’s not his or anyone else in the government’s fault, it’s the fault of the Zimbabweans for not producing enough.
Zimbabwe’s central bank chief says ordinary Zimbabweans are to blame for the country’s crippling inflation.
Reserve Bank Governor Gideon Gono is quoted in The Sunday Mail, a state-owned newspaper, as saying inflation is due to what he calls a “collective failure as a nation” to produce enough, particularly food. He calls on Zimbabweans “to actively play a part in producing for the nation.”
Zimbabwe’s inflation rate is officially 231 million percent, the highest in the world.
Government orders to seize white-owned farms starting in 2000 disrupted the economy of what had been the region’s breadbasket. The farms were to have gone to poor blacks, but many went to ruling party loyalists. Agricultural production has plummeted. Today, Zimbabwe faces a hunger crisis.
In fact, the poor Zimbabweans are not to blame. It’s the fault of Mugabe’s government that uses the printing press to inflate it’s currency to pay for it’s largess government that it can’t afford. If Mugabe and the Treasury of Zimbabwe can’t pay it’s bills, it just prints more paper.
You know it’s scary when The Bank of Zimbabwe, the entity that prints all that money for Mugabe, commends the Federal Reserve on their monetary policy.
Posted in Economics, Markets, & Trade.
Shocking…
Posted in Uncategoriezed.
Recently George W. Bush gave a speech to the Manhattan Institute, which appeared in the Wall Street Journal, instructing the world not to shy away from from markets. President Bush said, “History has shown that the greater threat to economic prosperity is not too little government involvement in the market, it is too much government involvement in the market.” He is absolutely correct, as he goes on to say, “Capitalism offers people the freedom to choose where they work and what they do, the opportunity to buy or sell products they want, and the dignity that comes with profiting from their talent and hard work. The free market provides the incentives to work, to innovate, to save, to invest wisely, and to create jobs for others. And as millions of people pursue these incentives together, whole societies benefit.” Sure, the President makes a couple good points here, yet shows himself to be a complete ignoramus on his own destructive involvement in dismantling the free-market system which he supposedly espouses.
In the speech the president said, “If you seek economic growth, social justice and human dignity, the free-market system is the way to go.” Fair enough. However, if you know anything about the last eight years you’d know how upside-down-laughable that is coming from the man who brought you so-called free market policies such as “drug prescription reform,” supporting and upholding trade embargo with countries like Cuba, in 2002 imposing 30% steel import tariffs only to repeal them after tough scrutiny from trade partners, supporting the horrendous NAFTA legislation, signing the Farm Bill, the further federalization of education under No Child Left Behind Legislation, overseeing the nationalization of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, pushing “emergency relief assistance” and then some to A.I.G., and pushing through a gigantic bail out bill for the banking industry. All this is making me nauseated, must I go on?
How do we define social justice and human dignity? Is it the dropping of bombs on the innocent peoples in the middle east? Or how about imposing embargoes on Cuba that only serve to starve their people. In the article, he states, “Cuba, once known for its vast fields of cane, is now forced to ration sugar.” But, in part, that’s our own fault that the people of Cuba are forced to starve for they can’t obtain the equipment they often bought from companies overseas to plow their fields and harvest their cane fields. I wonder what ever did happen to your “compassionate conservatism”.
Now for my final act I will attempt to ’shock and awe’ you as I compare two presidents of two different countries. The United States President will be on one hand. The other a country is that country that jingoistic neoconservatives shrilly call “socialists,” France. They may even be right, but you will soon see who the more socialist president is.
“I’m a strong believer in free enterprise, so my natural instinct is to oppose government intervention. I believe companies that make bad decisions should be allowed to go out of business. Under normal circumstances, I would have followed this course. But these are not normal circumstances. The market is not functioning properly.”
“The financial crisis is not the crisis of capitalism. It is the crisis of a system that has distanced itself from the most fundamental values of capitalism, which betrayed the spirit of capitalism.”
I wish the President had at least as much respect for capitalism as the President of a so-called “socialist” country. President Bush may, to an extent and from time to time, talk the talk, but falls flat on his face when attempting to walk the walk on free market issues.
Posted in Economics, Markets, & Trade.
Judge Andrew Napolitano discusses the Treasury’s new plans to buy stakes in the banks, rather than their original plan which was to purchase the toxic assets and how the Treasury Secretary’s actions are not constitutional. However, he doesn’t stop there.
Posted in Economics, Markets, & Trade.
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The L.A. Times reports on Hank Paulson’s interview on Robert Siegel on NPR News’ “All Things Considered”, where he stated he thinks the banks have been stabilized.
An excerpt:
Siegel: You said yesterday, overall, we’re in a better position than we were. That’s a modest statement of progress, but it’s a statement of progress. How can you tell Americans who are listening something that’s happened, something that should have affected their lives by now, that is a tribute to the nearly $300 billion that has already been committed by the U.S. government [to a banking bailout]?
Paulson: Yeah, I would say the first thing I would say to Americans, what we were dealing with was, we were dealing with a financial system, a banking system that was on the tipping point. Credit was frozen. Banks weren’t lending to each other. People were asking themselves about the viability of banks.
I believe the banking system has been stabilized. No one is asking themselves anymore, is there some major institution that might fail and that we would not be able to do anything about it. So I think that is a positive.
I think in terms of the challenges, in terms of working through this economic downturn. Let me tell you, it took a long time to build up these excesses. It’s going to take a good while to work through this period. And the first focus, as I said yesterday, should be on recovery and repair. And it’s going to take a while longer to work through it.
Siegel: But just to clarify, you’re saying no one is saying now there could be a failure of a major institution that we wouldn’t be able to deal with. There could be a failure of another major institution, though.
Paulson: I got to tell you, I think our major institutions have been stabilized. I believe that very strongly.
There you have it. Everything is OK. Riiiight…
Posted in Economics, Markets, & Trade.
That’s what Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said to French President Nicholas Sarkozy.
Sarkozy responds with, “Hang him?” Putin asks, “Why not? The Americans hanged Saddam Hussein.”
Of course, Sarkozy reminds Putin, “Yes but do you want to end up like [President] Bush?” At a loss for words Putin says, “Ah — you have scored a point there.”
Funny guy, that Sarkozy.
Posted in Politics.
From the WSJ:
The Obama transition team released the names of 13 people on Wednesday who will direct a top-to-bottom review of federal agencies and another six who will lead teams that will review Treasury, State and Defense department policy, budget and personnel issues.
The group is filled with second-tier veterans of the Clinton administration and workers in the technology and financial sectors. It includes four former lobbyists, three top campaign fund-raisers and two former employees of troubled mortgage giant Fannie Mae, with some overlap among them. Four people in the group have ties to the consultant McKinsey & Co. and two have experience leading high-tech start-ups.
Oh, this is rich.
Four former lobbyists which he promised wouldn’t have a job in an Obama White House. Didn’t Obama criticize McCain about this? To top it off there are two former employees of Fannie Mae. I guess they couldn’t get a job anywhere else, and so I suppose politics would be a good fit since Fannie Mae was good at lying and deceiving.
No change here.
Posted in Impeachment & Presidency.
What a surprise. Not.
WASHINGTON — Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson officially abandoned his original plan to buy troubled assets from financial institutions. While the government will continue to invest in those firms, he said, it would also now focus on the nation’s struggling consumers.
In detailing the next phase of Treasury’s $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program, Mr. Paulson indicated the government would continue flooding financial institutions with cash, but would also try to increase the availability of student loans, auto loans and credit cards. He said he’s also examining ways to help prevent foreclosures.
This is bad news for taxpayers, students, and auto buyers. The whole idea here is to try and get people to consume more, and who cares how much debt is acquired to do so? Not the government… as their idea of stimulus is only what they can see on the short term, through the “not on my watch” lense.
Of course, this only merely serves to prop up the prices at already artificially high rates. By doing so the free market is not allowed to correct naturally. Instead, when it does, and it will, correct it will be a violent correction wreaking even more havoc. But by that time, who will want to loan money to a country that has over one trillion dollar deficits. This is already happening, so the money gets printed and no one realizes this is going to cause the eventual downfall destruction of the dollar.
Deflation will only be a short term problem. Inflation is what I’m afraid of in the long-term.
Posted in Economics, Markets, & Trade.
San Jose mayor Chuck Reed:
Reed created a minor furor Friday when he told an Associated Press reporter he would seek 2 percent of the bailout, or $14 billion, for San Jose — an eye-popping figure, given that the city’s entire annual budget is $3.3 billion. Reed later told the Mercury News that his remark was “off the cuff,” and based on the fact that the city contributes more than 2 percent of the nation’s gross domestic product.
“It’s just a number I can do in my head,” he added.
Posted in Economics, Markets, & Trade.
Posted in Uncategoriezed.
By Washington lawmakers after Treasury changes plan.
It looks like he had fun.
From Reuter’s:
“We have in many ways humiliated ourselves as a nation with some of the problems that have taken place here,” Paulson said in an interview with CNBC television.
Well, duh. So, why does it seem like you’re trying your damnedest to ruin our reputation even further?
(H/T Calculated Risk)
Posted in Uncategoriezed.
From the WSJ:
Three of the largest makers of computer and video screens, Sharp Corp., LG Display Co. and Chunghwa Picture Tubes Ltd., pleaded guilty to criminal price-fixing charges and will pay fines totaling $585 million.
As a result of the price fixing, electronics manufacturers and, ultimately, consumers were forced to pay higher prices for televisions, cellphones and other products using liquid-crystal displays, the Justice Department said.
U.S. officials said products affected by the price fixing included Apple Inc. iPods and Razr phones from Motorola Inc. as well as laptops and computer monitors from Dell Inc.
Such horror!
(H/T for pic and more of the story at Crunch Gear)
Posted in Economics, Markets, & Trade.
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